NHC-Ligand Effectiveness in the Fluorine-Free Hiyama Reaction of Aryl Halides

1-Benzyl-3-(2-hydroxy-2-phenylethyl)imidazolium chloride (5), which is a precursor of an N-heterocyclic carbene ligand, in combination with palladium acetate, has been employed as an effective catalyst for the fluorine-free Hiyama reaction. A systematic study of the catalytic mixture, by a 32 factorial design, has revealed that both the amount of palladium and the Pd/NHC precursor ratio are important factors for obtaining good yields of the coupling products, indicating an interaction between them. The best catalytic system involves mixing 0.1 mol-% palladium acetate in a 1:5 ratio (Pd/salt 5), which allows the effective coupling of a range of aryl bromides and chlorides with trimethoxy(phenyl)silane. The Hiyama reactions are carried out in NaOH solution (50 % H2O w/w), at 120 °C under microwave irradiation during 60 min.

Financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN) (project numbers CTQ2007-65218, CTQ2011-24165), from Consolider Ingenio 2010 (CSD2007-00006), from the Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEO/2009/0349), and from the Fondos Europeos para el Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) is acknowledged. I. P. thanks the MICINN for a predoctoral fellowship.